Presented by Dr. Kentaro Fujita, Professor
Description: Despite our best intentions—whether we are trying to reduce screen time, lose weight, or save more money—we often fail to follow through with our goals. We bemoan our poor self-control and often say that if only we had more willpower to counter our worst impulses, we would be healthier, happier, wealthier, and more productive. In this talk, I challenge the idea that willpower is essential to self-control. Instead, I argue that it is only one of many tools in our self-control toolkit we can use to advance our goals. I propose that it would be better for us to think of self-control as a skill—one that entails learning what tools work best for us in what situations. I explore four explications of this idea. First, self-control can be learned. Just like playing the piano or public speaking, self-control may be something we can enjoy given sufficient knowledge, training, and practice. Second, we can study how people can improve their self-control: we can use science to explore what people who are skilled at self-control know that the rest of us do not. Third, there is a single cure-all or formula we can all follow to get better at self-control. Instead, each of us may be better at using some tools than others and/or live in conditions in which one tool might work better than another. The key to self-control then is flexibility – tuning our responses as a function of who we are and how we live. Finally, we should respond to self-control failures with grace. Succumbing to temptation does not mean we have failed our goals; instead, they represent opportunities to learn what works or does not work for us and encourages us to try another tool or approach. Thus, the secret to successful self-control is not being stronger or tougher; instead, it’s about being smarter.